Category: Water
When the revolution in Rojava began, the groundwater level was very low due mainly to industrial monoculture agriculture organised by the Syrian regime over the last four decades, as well as a decline in rainfall as a result of the global climate crisis.
In 2015, Turkey started to use water as a weapon against Rojava by holding back the water on the rivers which flow from Turkey to Syria through the dams it has been building over the last twenty years.
Then, in October 2019, Turkish state forces invaded some areas of North-East Syria, including the region of Serekaniye, which supplies water to almost half a million people in the region around Hasakah. The Alouk water station in Serekaniye was targeted on the first day of the invasion. Since then it has been fixed and then put out of service again repeatedly.
Since the start of the invasion of Serekaniye, Turkish military forces and their allies have continued to attack water infrastructure, burned newly planted orchards and dammed the rivers providing most of the fresh water and electricity to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without safe reliable drinking water, a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the articles below, you can find more information about issues surrounding water and the struggles for water autonomy in North and East Syria. There are also articles here with information on issues around water in southeastern Turkey, such as Turkish megaproject the Ilisu Dam, whose waters have now submerged the ancient city of Hasankeyf, drowning thousands of years of largely unexcavated human history and displacing an estimated 100,000 people, while giving Turkey unprecedented control over waters of the wider region.
Turkey uses water as weapon against NE Syria
The occupying Turkish state has cut the water off North-East Syria regions to use water as a weapon against the people. But this practice has environmental and health effects on the region and agriculture causing the spread of cholera.
Syrians’ Strategic Resources Wheat, Cotton Face Challenges
Agriculture in Syria in general, and northeast Syria in particular, is waning after it used to top producing countries in the past, owing to a number of factors - notably the effects policy leaves on economy.
Rîhan Temo: War deepens environmental problems
Speaking about the effects of the Syrian war and conflicts on the environment, Kongra Star Ecology Committee Spokesperson Rîham Temo said that the main source of the problem is the patriarchal-state system.
Euphrates River is drying up
Latest images show that the waters of the Euphrates River have decreased significantly as a result of the water war waged by the invading Turkish state against the people of North and East Syria.
The economic reality and the social economy in NES
The economy of the autonomous Administration takes social economy as its main pillar, in which everyone participates to establish a local economy that seeks to reach self-sufficiency.
Turkey and mercenaries cutting off water from Alouk station causes epidemic diseases
Millions of people do not have access to clean water after the invading Turkish state and its mercenaries cut off water from the Alouk Station, leading to epidemic diseases.
Women revive life in Teanê
Women revive life in the Teanê village of Shahba by having a communal life.
Climate and Conflict are Hammering the Agrarian Poor in Syria
In this report PAX has conducted dozens of interviews with pastoralists, farmers, and local authorities, combining this with satellite analysis and humanitarian data. The findings clearly outline the risks for fragmentation among the poorest communities as access to water becomes more difficult and failed harvest creates more socio-economic concerns. While many reports have addressed how this impacts agricultural communities, little attention is given to the thousands of pastoralists roaming over Syrian pastures. Often the poorest of the poor, herders are heavily hit by lack of rain, which has impacted vegetation growth and access to water for their flocks of sheep.
Cotton Farmers In Syria’s Manbij Suffer From High Costs, Lack Of Support
Cotton is one of the most strategic crops that are widely planted in northeast Syria. Syrian cotton is one of the best worldwide. Syria is one the most important countries in producing and planting cotton. It is dubbed by farmers as “white gold.” However, the planted spaces have been reduced since 2012. In light of encouragement by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) that opened centers to receive cotton, the crop has been recently reviving and extending.
The democratic system of communes and councils in North East Syria
The society we strive for, is an ethical-political society, which means a society in which all people are involved and organized, and the ethical values of the society are being protected. We see this as a main mechanism against power regimes like capitalism and patriarchy which work to dissolve society and create a system of individuals without the glue of societal values.
‘Pressure should be put on Turkey to re-allow water flow of the Euphrates’
The lands of North and East Syria are becoming desert due to the Turkish state which has reduced the water flow of the Euphrates River for two years. Decreased and polluted waters also cause many diseases in the region.
